Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they consider predictive text engines such as ChatGPT and Google's LaMDA BARD to be within the scope of the Online Safety Bill, as currently drafted; and if not, what other measures they will introduce to hold companies responsible for the operation of such software should it be likely to be accessed by children or by vulnerable UK citizens.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
The Online Safety Bill has been designed to be technology-neutral to future-proof it and to ensure that the legislation keeps pace with emerging technologies. It will apply to companies which enable users to share content online or to interact with each other, as well as search services. Content generated by artificial intelligence ‘bots’ is in scope of the Bill, where it interacts with user-generated content, such as on Twitter. Search services using AI-powered features will also be in scope of the search duties outlined in the Bill.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are having discussions with the Scottish Government, Creative Scotland, and other partners regarding (1) cultural cinema programme activity in Edinburgh, and (2) the 2023 Edinburgh International Film Festival, following the closure of the Edinburgh Film House.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
Cultural cinema programme activity in Edinburgh is a matter for the Scottish Government, since this is a devolved policy area. Following the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) going into administration in October 2022, Screen Scotland purchased the intellectual property for the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
DCMS officials have spoken to the British Film Institute (BFI) about this issue. The BFI operates UK-wide and has a close working relationship with Creative Scotland and its dedicated screen agency, Screen Scotland. Throughout the period covered by the British Film Institute’s previous corporate strategy, British Film Institute 2022, Screen Scotland has been its delivery partner for the National Lottery-backed British Film Institute NETWORK programme, Short Circuit. The British Film Institute’s new strategy, Screen Culture 2033, is UK-wide and Scotland-based applicants are able to apply for applicable National Lottery funds.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much Ofcom has spent on its work to promote online media literacy in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
Ofcom is operationally independent from His Majesty’s Government and is accountable to Parliament. Information on Ofcom’s budget and funding arrangements can be found in its Annual Report and Accounts, which are lodged in the House of Commons Library and published on Ofcom's website.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment Ofsted has made of Ofcom's progress towards improving the online media literacy of internet users.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Ofsted is not responsible for evaluating the work of Ofcom and has made no assessment of Ofcom’s progress on this matter.
Ofsted sets clear expectations that schools teach pupils how to understand and recognise risks they may encounter online. This should include a well constructed relationship, sex and health education curriculum that addresses online abuse and harassment, online safeguarding risks, and what constitutes a healthy relationship online. Ofsted also expects schools to act to ensure bullying, discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual violence, online or offline, are unacceptable and dealt with quickly, consistently, and effectively should they occur.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to increasing the time devoted to online media literacy as part of the national curriculum.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The Department continues to support schools to deliver media literacy education. There are many opportunities across the national curriculum for pupils to acquire knowledge of online media literacy. It is taught through the compulsory subjects of computing and citizenship and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE), which was introduced in September 2020. Non-online media literacy is also covered in history and English.
The computing curriculum teaches children how to use technology safely. This includes understanding the internet, using search technologies effectively, and being discerning when evaluating digital content.
Citizenship education equips pupils with the knowledge to explore issues critically, weigh evidence, make reasoned arguments, and take informed action. Pupils are taught the role of responsible journalism in democratic society, enabling them to identify misinformation.
The RSHE curriculum includes online relationships, the implications of sharing private or personal data, including images, online, harmful content and contact, cyberbullying, overreliance on social media, and where to get help and support for issues that occur online.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the impact that the practice of stopping and reviewing benefits for disabled people who earn over a certain monthly threshold has had on the advertising industry’s project to increase diversity within the sector.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The department has not assessed whether benefit rules in relation to earnings have impacted on the advertising industry’s project to increase diversity within this sector.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Frost on 27 May (HL Deb, cols 1103–6), which EU countries were involved in bi-lateral discussions with the UK Government about touring visas for workers in the cultural sector; and whether the Home Office was party to these discussions.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
As the Secretary of State has said, we have moved at pace and with urgency on plans to support the creative sectors to tour in Europe. We are engaging on a bilateral basis with all 27 EU Member States, and through this engagement we have established that in at least 17 out of 27 Member States some touring activities are possible without visas or work-permits. The UK has significantly more generous arrangements for touring professionals than many Member States. We are now working closely with individual Member States to encourage them to adopt a more flexible approach, in line with the UK’s own rules which allow creative professionals to tour easily here. We are working with a number of departments on this engagement strategy, including the Home Office.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the responses by Lord Benyon on 25 May (HL Deb, cols 890–3), whether the evidence they used to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in 2018 has changed; and, if so, (1) whether this has led to a change of policy, and (2) what plans they have to make any such evidence available as soon as practicable.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The 2018 restrictions on neonicotinoids were justified by the growing weight of scientific evidence that they are harmful to bees and other pollinators. The Government supported these restrictions because we were not prepared to put our pollinator populations at risk.
Our position on these pesticides remains the same. We support the restrictions on neonicotinoids but can consider applications for emergency authorisations.
We will only grant an emergency authorisation where the relevant statutory requirements are met. They will only be granted for limited and controlled use where the product is necessary because of a danger which cannot be contained by any other reasonable means. We will carefully consider any potential risks to humans, animals and the environment, including pollinators.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why non-professional music activity in England has not been permitted to resume indoors without limits on numbers.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Non-professional activities are permitted indoors within the legal gathering limits in a group of up to 6 people, or as a group of 2 households/bubbles. Activities can take place with multiple permitted groups, provided the groups are kept separate throughout the activity, and the event is organised in line with the organised events guidance for local authorities. However, non-professional singing indoors should only take place in a single group of up to 6 people. Activities should be organised to allow for social distancing to be maintained.
We have followed the views of public health experts on singing. We are aware that singing can increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission through the spread of aerosol droplets. We will continue to keep guidance and restrictions under review, in line with the changing situation. Further detail on step 4 will be set out as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Prompt Payment Code on SMEs in the construction sector, given that only a small minority of construction businesses are signatories to the Code.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to fulfilling its manifesto commitment to clamp down on non-payment and late payment to support small businesses in the UK.
We have introduced a number of measures to tackle late payment. These include the Payment Practices Reporting Duty which creates transparency in payment behaviour, and the Prompt Payment Code which sets standards and best practice in payment culture. Both measures are applicable in the construction sector.
Since September 2019, suppliers also risk being excluded from winning large Government contracts if they cannot demonstrate prompt payment. This policy applies to Central Government contracts valued above £5m per annum, subject to the Public Contracts Regulations.
In addition, in May 2020 the Government issued a Guidance Note on responsible contractual behaviour in the performance and enforcement of contracts impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Government will continue to review behaviours in contracting, including public sector procurement, prompt payment and contract management arrangements.